PDB house used as pro-AL employees' political office

30 September 2009, 17:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Nilphamari

Pro-Awami League employees of Power Development Board (PDB) hang a signboard styled Jatiya Bidyut Sramic League on the house meant for official residence of the PDB resident engineer in Nilphamari as they are using it as their district unit office.Photo: STAR

Pro-Awami League employees of the district office of Power Development Board (PDB) are using the resident engineer's (RE) official residence as Bangladesh Jatiya Bidyut Sramik League office. During a visit to the RE's official residence on Monday, this correspondent found a signboard of the district office of Bangladesh Jatiya Bidyut Sramik League on the front part of the house where some Sramik League men were gossiping. The imam of the local PDB office mosque now lives with his family in the other part of the building. An illegal power connection was given to the Sramik League office and the imam's house from the electricity lines on the road. When asked, the imam said PDB employees made arrangement for his living in the 'abandoned house' there without rent. He admitted using electricity without paying bill but said that he did not know whether it was legal or illegal as the PDB employees managed it for him as well as for their Bidyut Sramik League office. Over a year ago, the present RE shifted his office from Sabujpara to the outskirts of the town on temporary basis for repair but nobody knows when the repair work would begin, said a PDB official. The large complex of local PDB office in Sabujpara comprises a complaint centre, godown, storeroom, RE's residence and employees' quarters. The employees live in their quarters but the RE does not live in his official residence. The leaders of different employees' unions are now conspiring to occupy the buildings and spaces in the name of their organisations, PDB sources said. The president of the district unit of Bangladesh Jatiya Bidyut Sramik League, Farhad Hossain claimed that they were 'temporarily' using the RE's 'abandoned residence' as their organisational office with due permission. When contacted, the resident engineer of the district PDB office Tajul Islam said he did not give any permission to turn the RE's official residence into Sramik League office. “I live in the local dak bungalow. The resident engineer's official residence has remained abandoned for long. My predecessors also did not live in it,” he added.